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Thursday, June 2, 2016

I've been baking a fair bit with gluten-free flour over the past year or so as I have a work colleague who can't eat gluten. From reading other blogs I know there are a lot of people out there in the same situation, and it's amazing the number of things you can't eat or have to check the labels on in case they contain gluten (sausages, for instance). And I always assumed she wouldn't be able to eat breakfast cereal as that contains gluten, but it turns out I was wrong.

Provena is a specialist in gluten-free cereals, flours and baking products - its range is oat-based and the company says it uses some of the purest and highest grade of oats in the world, which gives a better flavour. The oats they use are grown in Finland, a country with the lowest air pollution in Europe, which is all good for their products!

They sent me some products to review and also some to give away to one lucky reader - see below for the entry form.

Even if you can eat gluten, these products are worth a look. Did you know that oats can help lower cholesterol, they contain fibre which is good for digestion, and also stabilise blood sugar levels and boost metabolism, and give a slow release of energy throughout the day.

The products that Provena sent me, and which you can win in this giveaway, are:

Gluten Free Jumbo Oats: won two gold stars at 2016 Great Taste awards. Provena’s flagship product; they say : "Large, wholesome oats, that brim with taste and goodness." You could use these to make a breakfast dish or to bake into cookies.

Gluten Free Instant Oat Meal - a mixture of porridge oats and either raspberries or apricot (it comes in two flavours). I was quite curious to try this as I've had porridge before that you mix with milk and put in the microwave, but with this you only need to add boiling water (so it's much easier to make at work for instance). I tried the apricot flavour and it was really good!

Gluten Free Chocolate Muffin Mix - of course this is the product I turned to first and made up the packet mix to take in for my colleague at work. It was so quick and easy to make - you just add eggs and margarine. I was slightly confused by the instructions to add 150ml melted margarine as I had no idea how much that equated to before it was melted, so I guessed, and melted some in the microwave and then added a little bit more. The muffins turned out really well and tasted great - they have little chocolate chips inside them and my colleague was delighted!

I'm looking forward to trying out the other products but as the company wanted me to run the giveaway as soon as possible I haven't had the chance yet! There are also some great recipes on the Provena website.
You can find Provena on Facebook and Twitter and you can buy their products from Holland & Barrett and Amazon.
So here's what you can win, the full Provena range. The giveaway is open to UK addresses only; you just need to fill in the Rafflecopter entry form below.